Galvano’s highway plans will bring environmental ruin

When USA Today published a story in January spotlighting the poorest county in each state, Madison County earned this dubious distinction for Florida. The county’s median household income of $31,816 a year is $19,000 less than the typical Florida household, according to USA Today.

Here’s something else notable about Madison County: It is bisected, east to west, by Interstate 10. This is worth keeping in mind as the Florida Legislature considers a budget-busting, environmentally ruinous plan to build three new expressways up the western half of the Florida Peninsula: a Heartland Parkway between Collier and Polk counties; an extension of the Suncoast Parkway from Citrus County north to the Georgia line; and a connector from the northern end of Florida’s Turnpike to the Suncoast Parkway extension.

Senate President Bill Galvano, who is leading the charge for the expressways, says they are needed in part to bring economic opportunity to struggling rural counties. That’s a laudable goal. But if highways were the key to a thriving economy, Madison County would be booming. It has four I-10 exits.

Laying the foundation for economic growth in the 21st century is more complex than laying new pavement. Most leaders would acknowledge the importance, for example, of developing a talented workforce by investing in education. Yet the Senate president’s plan calls for getting started on the new expressways by diverting hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade from general tax revenue, the primary funding source in Florida for public schools. Does the state have this much general revenue to spare? Ask an underpaid teacher.

Ultimately, the construction costs for some 340 miles of new expressways envisioned in the president’s plan could top $10 billion. Those costs are supposed to be recouped from users, but revenue from tolls on the three expressways wouldn’t be required to cover the full freight for 30 years. Until then, drivers in other parts of Florida’ Turnpike system would get stuck with making up the difference through the tolls they pay. In Central Florida, that would include not only commuters on the Turnpike, but also on portions of the GreeneWay, the Beachline, and the Western Beltway.

These are some of the practical and financial arguments for legislators to vote against the president’s plan. But there’s an even more compelling environmental rationale for them to reject it: The corridors for these expressways put a bull’s-eye on some of the last, best natural and agricultural land in Florida.

Some of this land has been protected from development, but much of it hasn’t. The three expressways, and the sprawling development they would spawn, would degrade or destroy farmland, forests, wetlands and aquifer recharge areas up and down the Florida Peninsula. They would add to nutrient and sediment pollution in already impaired waterways, from the Everglades in the south to natural springs in the north. They would fragment wildlife corridors and decimate habitat for the Florida Panther and other endangered and threatened species.

Some earlier incarnations of the expressways in the Senate president’s plan were considered and rejected. Previous governors or state transportation officials turned down the Heartland Parkway four times between 2007 and 2016. Also in 2016, a state task force convened to study ways to alleviate traffic on Interstate 75 recommended against extending the Suncoast Parkway, largely because of the damage it would do to the environment and quality of life in the region.

Sen. Tom Lee, who is sponsoring the expressways bill for Galvano, has amended it to require that task forces for each corridor recommend ways of mitigating their environmental impact. But before they consider the least damaging way to build these expressways, lawmakers need to answer a threshold question: Should the expressways even be built in the first place? The answer is no.

If lawmakers want to strengthen the economies in the three expressways corridors in rural Florida, here’s a much better plan: purchase development rights from farmers so they can keep cultivating their land; upgrade the existing roads where communities have developed; and buy more conservation property to permanently protect critical natural assets. These goals could be met for a fraction of the cost of building new expressways, without trashing the environment.

Unfortunately, all but one senator yielded to the will of their president and voted in favor of his plan Wednesday. That leaves its fate up to members of the House, or ultimately, to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Unfortunately, a majority of senators appear to be on the verge of bending to the will of their president, and passing his plan. That would leave its fate to members of the House, or ultimately, to Gov. Ron DeSantis. [Alternative if the bill passes before publication: Unfortunately, a majority of senators yielded to the will of their president and passed his plan. That leaves its fate up to members of the House, or ultimately, to Gov. Ron DeSantis.] Don’t miss your chance to call your representative, and the governor, to let them know you expect them to be more responsible stewards of Florida’s finances and environment.

Ironically, the debate over the Senate president’s plan has taken place at the same time as lawmakers, following DeSantis’ lead, are committing hundreds of millions of dollars next year to restoring the Everglades and other waterways damaged by a legacy of terrible land-use decisions and environmental malpractice. This painful and expensive lesson should be more than enough to persuade lawmakers not to go down the wrong road again.